Minister: Foreign investors can rely on Cuba

Cuba has every condition to attract and favor foreign investment, says Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, according to an article in the daily Granma which appeared Thursday (March 20).

Cuba’s economic model is being updated, the nation is politically and socially stable, the legal frameworks have been established, and the human resources are highly qualified, Malmierca is quoted as saying.

The minister spoke at a meeting in Santa Clara of deputies from Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Cienfuegos and Matanzas. A draft of a new Law on Foreign Investment is being debated at regional gatherings and will be submitted for approval at a plenary meeting of the National Assembly, March 29 in Havana.

The new law is intended to strengthen the nation’s economic and social development, Malmierca said. In its reach, “it also has a profound political connotation,” he added.

“The new proposal has substantial changes, being more complete, modern, flexible and transparent than the previous one,” the minister said. “It defines the treatment to each sector of the economy and the special rules on matters of trade, labor relations and other important aspects,” he said.

The previous law, still in effect, was passed in 1995. Malmierca said that the outdated and/or flawed elements of that law had been discarded during the drafting of the new bill.

Most of the concerns expressed by the deputies attending the regional debates had to do with the protection of the labor force in enterprises funded with foreign capital, wages and tax laws, and promotion of local development.

Malmierca, 57, is an experience diplomat and economist, having majored in economics from the University of Havana in 1980.

Before his appointment to the top job at the Foreign Trade and Investment ministry, Malmierca was Cuba’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2009. Previously, he served as Cuba’s ambassador to Belgium (2002-2005) and deputy minister of Foreign Investment (1998-2002).